US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow dip on oil price crash, earnings anxiety

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* Oil stocks drop as WTI falls to lowest since 1998
* Amazon, Netflix up amid demand for "stay-at-home" stocks
* Defensive stocks lead declines among S&P sub sectors
* Indexes: Dow off 0.87%, S&P down 500 0.46%, Nasdaq up
0.21%

(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and C Nivedita
April 20 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones headed
lower on Monday following a strong two-week rally as oil prices
crashed and investors grew cautious at the start of a week that
is likely to bring more dismal quarterly earnings reports and
economic data.
Energy stocks .SPNY shed 0.9% and were on track for their
sixth slide in seven sessions as the U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) contract CLc1 fell more than 40% to its
lowest since 1998 on concerns of oversupply. O/R
The Nasdaq .IXIC outperformed the broader market on gains
in Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Netflix Inc NFLX.O - deemed
"stay-at-home" stocks as widespread lockdowns fueled demand for
online streaming and home delivery of groceries.
S&P 500 firms have recovered about 30% - or $5.8 trillion in
market value - since a March trough on a raft of global stimulus
and hopes the virus was nearing a peak in the United States.
But the benchmark index remains about 15% below its all-time
high and analysts have warned of a deep economic slump from the
halt in business activity and millions of layoffs.
U.S. jobless claims touched 22 million in the four weeks to
April 11, and analysts have forecast as many as 5 million more
in the latest week. A reading of an April U.S. manufacturing
survey, also due Thursday, is expected to slide to recession-era
levels.
"Today is largely a give back of some of the previous gains
as people are trying to assess whether it's going to be six
months or nine months or 12 months until the economy is back on
regular footing," said Dev Kantesaria, founder portfolio manager
of hedge fund Valley Forge Capital Management in Wayne,
Pennsylvania.
After U.S. banks kicked off the quarterly earnings season
with painful forecasts for 2020, investors will keep a close
watch on reports from Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N , Southwest
Airlines Co LUV.N and Netflix later in the week.
Overall, analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 firms to fall
13.5% in the first quarter, according to IBES data from
Refinitiv, while Goldman Sachs has predicted share buybacks will
halve and dividends will slide 23% in 2020.
At 11:24 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 211.69 points, or 0.87%, at 24,030.80, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 13.25 points, or 0.46%, at 2,861.31 and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 17.93 points, or 0.21%, at
8,668.07.
Hopes have also risen for a gradual reopening of the economy
after President Donald Trump cited signs of plateauing in the
virus outbreak last week and outlined new guidelines for states
to pull out of shutdowns.
But his plan was thin on details and left the decision
largely up to state governors. New York City Mayor Bill de
Blasio said on Monday it could take weeks if not months before
the country's most populous city reopens due to a lack of
widespread testing. "The recovery will be much slower than the market is
currently pricing in simply because social distancing measures
can be relaxed but not removed until we have a vaccine or a very
effective cure," said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS
Lombard in London.
Most declines by midday were led by defensive stocks such as
utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR , which fell about
2% each.
Bank stocks .SPXBX , on the other hand, tracked a decline
in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR . US/
Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 2-to-1 on
the NYSE, while advancing issues matched decliners on the
Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and eight new lows.